Analysis: With troop deal, US winding down combat
(AP) - The U. S. -Iraqi deal on troop withdrawals, while not yet final, appears to mark the beginning of the end of a combat commitment that has cost more than 4,100 U.
Analysis: US prepares for post-Musharraf Pakistan
(AP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's resignation could allow the United States to build stronger relations with a fledgling democratic government and embrace what many American lawmakers and Pakistani opposition forces have long urged by moving away from a narrow focus on a single, strong military leader.
Analysis: After Georgia, what next for US, Russia?
(AP) - There is blame to go around as the United States assesses the disastrous consequences of the war in Georgia.
President Bush was overconfident. Georgia's pro-American President Mikhail Saakashvili overreached.
US-Russia relations turn confrontational
(AP) - President Bush is guiding U. S. relations with Russia in a decidedly confrontational direction, evoking memories of Cold War bitterness.
It's a marked turnabout from the sense-of-his-soul epiphany the president had seven years ago when he declared that Vladimir Putin was a trustworthy partner on the global stage.
Analysis: What if a jury heard the anthrax case
The Justice Department laid out its case this past week that Army scientist Bruce Ivins mailed the anthrax powder that killed five people in 2001.
Analysis: Case against Ivins not airtight
(AP) - Lacking hard proof, federal prosecutors relied on the process of elimination and circumstantial evidence to finger Bruce Ivins as the anthrax killer.
Their case might be compelling, but it is not airtight.
Analysis: Democrats exact price from Bush for war
(AP) - They did not end the Iraq war or tackle $4-a-gallon gas.
But the Democratic-run Congress created programs this year to educate veterans and feed and house the poor.
Analysis: Congress' tank hits empty on energy help
(AP) - In a summer of nationwide anguish over fuel costs, Congress' attack on soaring gasoline prices has been full of high-octane rhetoric and low-energy results.
Both parties instead have fought bitterly for weeks over who can make the best political points for the November elections, with Republicans pressing for more domestic oil drilling and Democrats railing about oil company profits.
Analysis: Stevens indictment adds to GOP troubles
(AP) - Just when it looked like things couldn't get much worse for Republicans in this election year, they did.
The indictment Tuesday of Ted Stevens of Alaska, the party's longest-serving senator, gave Democrats a new edge in their drive to win his seat and more momentum in their push to capture a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate.
Analysis: US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost
(AP) - The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost. Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years.
Analysis: Iraq playing US politics for best deal
(AP) - The Iraqi prime minister's seeming endorsement of Barack Obama's troop withdrawal plan is part of Baghdad's strategy to play U. S. politics for the best deal possible over America's military mission.
Analysis: Confident Iraq rides US political tides
(AP) - Confusion over the Iraqi prime minister's seeming endorsement of Barack Obama's troop withdrawal plan is part of Baghdad's strategy to play U. S. politics for the best deal possible over America's military mission.
Analysis: Leaders running out of economic options
(AP) - The nation's leaders are running out of answers to America's economic crisis.
The Federal Reserve has no more practical room to push interest rates lower; there's only so much taxpayer money for shoring up housing, and if depositors lose confidence there's little officials can do to stop a run on banks.
Analysis: A new financial crisis at the worst time
(AP) - The last thing the Bush White House and the rest of the country needed in these economically trying times was another financial crisis. But they got one.
The Republican administration and Democratic-run Congress now are facing the possibility that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, once staid and stable, could need a bailout or even go under.
Analysis: US and Iran appear on collision course
(AP) - The United States and Iran appear on a collision course in the Middle East, firing off mixed messages that are raising world tension and roiling oil markets amid fears that an eventual confrontation may be military.